


Then it's all over?

by starspawnedwarlock



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses, Naruto
Genre: Anime/Video Game Fusion, Jutsu, big fight, i have no idea what to tag this, that should do it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-15 22:09:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28945689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starspawnedwarlock/pseuds/starspawnedwarlock
Summary: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd and Edelgard Von Hresvelg clash exactly twice in their destined rivarly.
Relationships: My Unit | Byleth & Claude von Riegan
Kudos: 2





	1. The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Two students do battle.

Edelgard flipped back, avoiding the sweeping kick of her much taller opponent. Landing, she dashed forward, slicing with the kunai held in her hand. Dimitri blocked the strike with his own, then the one that followed, before he reached out to grab her. Edelgard reacted quickly, grabbing his arm, and swinging him over her. Her superior strength lifted him clean of his feet and threw him several feet away, before she hopped back herself, increasing the distance between them. As Dimitri landed on his feet, looking up with a rabid dog’s snarl on his face, Edelgard brought her hands together.

_Rat, tiger, dog, ox, hare, tiger, monkey._

She felt her chakra form at the last seal, before she reached into the pouch at her side, throwing out several shuriken as her other hand came up to her mouth. Flames spewed forth to cover each of the shuriken, before they flew off, curving through the air to hit their target.

Dimitri flipped back himself this time, twirling in the air to avoid the flaming shuriken. With the last one, he returned to his feet, preparing an attack of his own. His furrowed his brows upon seeing his opponent, her hand still held up. His eyes widened at the realisation, as he spun around, his hands quickly forming a jutsu of their own.

_Ox, dog, tiger._

He turned in time to see the shuriken coming directly towards him, their direction having been changed through Edelgard’s manipulation. With his chakra ready, Dimitri slammed his hands onto the ground. “Ice Release: Crystal Wall!” The shuriken, on a direct path to hit him, were suddenly blocked by a wall of solid ice that formed in front of him.

Dimitri turned back around to face his opponent. He let out a haggard breath.

“Sly. How fitting.” He spat.

“If that’s what it takes.”

Dimitri chuckled, before he brought his hands together once more. _Monkey, rat, bird, dog._

It was Edelgard’s turn for surprise, as four icy swords formed in the air surrounding Dimitri. She braced herself then jumped to the side, barely avoiding the first as it soared past her. Her kunai barely made it up in time to deflect the second, a horrible screech sounding out as ice slid along steel.

She dropped into a lower stance as Dimitri charged forward, baring a sword in each hand. She ducked and weaved, avoiding the strikes, before her arm snaked out, catching his right. Her own right came up quickly to deflect the swing of his left, the force almost making her hit herself with the inside of her arm. Seeing her opportunity, she drove her elbow forward, going under his arm to impact directly into his chin.

Dimitri stumbled back, before snarling and resuming his attack. Edelgard managed to duck under a side hew, ending up behind him.

_Snake, ram, monkey, boar, horse, tiger._

She brought a hand up to her mouth, quickly expelling a great ball of flame as she leapt back. Dimitri responded by bringing his swords up, before slashing a great x into the approaching fireball. The prince was pushed back, sliding along the ground as the fiery explosion pushed against his blades. But he had escaped with minimal harm.

With a grunt, he prepared to charge, before Edelgard leapt high into the air herself. _Rat, tiger, dog, ox, hare, tiger._ “Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique!”

Dimitri prepared himself as an onslaught of smaller fireballs sped towards him. Each one was intercepted by his blades, the chakra holding them together through all the heat. Each swing was accompanied by a louder yell from the prince.

With the last fireball gone, Edelgard, quickly falling towards her opponent, prepared her last jutsu. _Dog, bird, boar, tiger._ Her fist began to glow as she reached back. “Flame Attack!”

The two got closer, Dimitri’s blades swinging towards Edelgard, as her fiery fist came crashing down to light him aflame. The prince watched her descend, seeing her hand, covered in orange flame. That seemed to almost… turn black?

Then someone was between them and they were both sent hurtling back, a foot having impacted both of their chests. The two landed hard on the ground, tumbling. Coughing, they both looked up to see their sensei, hands on her hips, looking furious.

“I leave for five minutes. Five. Minutes.”

“Apologies, Sensei…” They spoke in unison.

Byleth went to speak again, but was interrupted by Claude, who burst from the bushes. “Hey sensei, I heard there’s this ramen place nearby and maybe I should save this for later.”

“Probably,” Byleth nodded after a moment, before looking back at her students. “We might be here for a while.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if this chapter was the sharingan the next is the rinnegan go read it trust me it slaps


	2. The Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Time for the real fight

Edelgard and Dimitri stood only metres apart for the first time in years, atop the great snowy mountaintop. He was somehow even taller than before, she noticed. She hadn’t gotten any taller at all, but even from here he could see her arms were bigger than his now, where once they were the same. He was slouched, his posture a mockery of what it once was. She looked more tired than he had ever seen her. He had the same cold wrath in his eyes as he did when they were students. Her determination was as apparent as the day they last saw each other.

“Let’s skip the pleasantries, El.” Dimitri croaked, straightening up as groaning as his back cracked, his shoulders moving back.

“I’d much rather that, too.” Edelgard responded, casting away her red cloak and leaving only her combat garb on.

Dimitri’s breath began to frost less, until there was none at all, as his body began to grow colder, the difference in his breath and the mountain becoming naught.

Edelgard closed her eyes for a moment. When they opened, the pattern of her eternal mangekyou sharingan glowed softly.

The two lowered down for a single moment. One breath each. Then the distance was closed, as they collided between where they had stood, her bare fist against his, encased in ice. A shockwave of force exploded outwards, as they stared at each other close for a single moment. He had gotten quick with his jutsu. She had gotten far, far stronger.

A second later, they had exchanged over a dozen blows. Dimitri kept her at length, using his reach to ward her off and hit. Edelgard grunted with each hit, waiting until she found an opening. Finding her opportunity, she charged in with incredible speed to deliver a punch that sent him flying back. Not satisfied there, she followed up, launching herself into the air to follow.

Dimitri narrowly deflected her flying punch, landing a hard elbow to her face. Blood spurted out from her nose. He reached out with his other hand, grabbing her by the back of the head, and pulling her hard into his knee. She caught it just in time, pushing his knee down, before swinging her left arm into his stomach with an uppercut that made him gasp.

Wrenching her head free from his grasp, she pulled back for another punch, before Dimitri grabbed her arm. He tried to spin, throwing her to the ground below, but was suddenly pulled himself, as Edelgard threw him down with far more power than he could hope to muster.

The King slammed into the ground, bouncing up just enough to allow him to spin back to standing position. He looked up to see the sky aflame with black fireballs, all coming down to hit him. He quickly brought his hands together to form the dog seal, before slamming them into the ground. Without a moment of pause, great spikes of ice shot from the snow, each one targeting a black fireball perfectly. With all of them stopped, he sent spikes directly for Edelgard.eHefhsdj

The Empress roared as she shattered each one with punches, sending shards of ice spinning into the air. Seeing a slight pause as more ice spikes formed, she formed tiger, then pulled back a hand that was engulfed in the black flames of enton. “Blaze Release: Flame Attack!” With that, she dived straight down, her jutsu accelerating her speed beyond gravity.

Dimitri eyes went wide at the attack, as he swung out his arms. The snow, ice shards and what little moisture was in the air coalesced around him, quickly solidifying into a great dome. He held his form as Edelgard crashed into the dome, and the insides were lit by the black flames outside.

A second later the dome exploded, and between the wreckage and dark fire, he saw Edelgard almost suspended in the air, thrown back slightly from the force of the explosion.

“The black flame so early?” He mused, staring at her where she landed.

“I want to be done with this.”

Dimitri nodded. “Then I shall reciprocate.”

_Snake, rat, dragon, monkey, tiger, dog._ “Ice Release: Multi Black Dragon Blizzard!”

Edelgard watched as ice gathered from the mountaintop and air, quickly darkening, and taking shape into two massive swirling blizzards snaking through the air above Dimitri. Their tips changed into the heads of dragons, with glowing red eyes, before suddenly charging forth towards her.

She quickly brought her hands up in front of her in the shape of horse. “Blaze Release: Great Flame Annihilation!”

With that, her sharingan flashed, and a great spew of black flame came from atop her hands shooting forth with power and tenacity unmatched by any flame jutsu either had ever seen.

The flames clashed against the twin dragons, forming a great vortex of chakra between the two shinobi legends. As the flame began to win, more black serpents formed behind Dimitri, crashing headfirst into the vortex, until it was equalised.

Edelgard finally let the flames stop, and watched as the vortex began to calm, the black ice dragons ceasing to appear. She stood still a moment, taking deep breaths as she recovered from the effort. If it weren’t for the sharingan, she would have died.

As it was, she detected Dimitri’s charge just in time, quickly activating both of her eyes and forming tiger. A great fist of amaterasu’s flames formed around her, slamming forward to meet Dimitri as he fell upon her, a glowing ball of blue in his hand.

The two attacks collided, and Dimitri hung in the air for a moment, his ice release infused rasengan pushing hard against the blaze release fist. Edelgard watched him for the second she could see him, his cloak blowing back hard with the force coming from the point of contact. The glow of the rasengan increased, until she lost sight of him. Then the attacks exploded.

Dimitri fly backwards, landing in a crouch as he slid backwards before he quickly looked up to see the result of the attack. As the smoke, dust and mist cleared, he caught sight of the red glow of the Susanoo, as the shield came into view. He could see Edelgard through its transparent appearance, breathing heavily with wide eyes. He broke into an animalistic chuckle, his teeth bared.

“Is that quick enough for you?” He whispered.

He watched as the Susanoo began to form fully around Edelgard, a great glowing red warrior prepared to do battle.

_Ram, snake, tiger._

Six more Dimitri’s appeared beside him, forming from the ice and snow.

“Let’s finish this.” Their hands formed dog. “Ice Release: Abominable Armour.”

Six of the Dimitris jumped away, as the frozen landscape of both the mountain and its surroundings began to converge around the one left standing. The shape around him grew in size until it was over half the height of the Susanoo he faced. The humanoid form, complete with maw lined with ice teeth, and great claws, roared.

Edelgard’s Susanoo observed the creation, before drawing back its katana for a piercing thrust. Just as it began to move, another yeti slammed into its side, claws scraping against the red matter it was formed of. Realising his tactic, Edelgard let her shield dissipate, drew her sword up and assumed jodan-no-kamae, watching the two monstrosities ready themselves to attack. She knew there were more, lurking about. But she only had to kill one, she just had to figure out which one it was. If he was even in one of them.

One of the yetis leapt, raising its arms to slam down on top of her. Quick as lightning, she acted, bringing down her katana to slice diagonally through it. The beast was parted, just as she sensed another behind her. With a giant sideways hew, she swung one handed, bisecting the beast right through the midsection. Another to her right. She lashed out with a rear kick, staggering it, before pivoting counter-clockwise, letting her sword swing low, then straight up, splitting it through the middle.

A yeti slammed into her back, grabbing on tight as its jaws closed around the back of the susanoo’s neck. Edelgard gasped as the armour began to crack where it bit, and reached back to grab it, swinging the construct down to the ground, before bringing her sword up, and stabbing directly down. As the beast screamed, another slammed into her, a massive ice chakra-infused rasengan exploding into her side, sending her tumbling backwards back as she lost grip of the blade. She managed to regain her stance, moving her hands to prepare for an attack from down low where it landed, but was met with another sprinting forward and leaping from it’s back. The yeti collided with her forearm, trying to grab on, before it was slung off with a swing of her arm.

Far away in the distance, soldiers on both sides of the war watched. They could see the colossal warrior fighting the squadron of abominable snowmen. And they awaited the outcome with bated breath.

Dorothea could sense that this was it. The finale of the war. The final act, the penultimate scene, where the dust that shall soon settle is first stirred with the epitome of the conflict.

She looked aside to Hubert and felt pain in her heart at his expression. The man, who could rarely show any emotion beyond indignance, was painted with worry and his breaths were heavy. His eyes did not leave the celestial form of the empress even once, and she could almost hear his heart beating from where she stood.

Looking across the rest of the strike force, she could see naught but exhaustion and worry. Ferdinand sat alone, the target of his gaze changing between the spectacle far away, and the empress’ loyal assistant. He took a long look at the latter, before exhaling, shaking his head, and looking down at his slashed leaf headband held in one hand.

She hoped Edelgard would pull through. For all of their sakes.

Felix watched from his branch, a lazy leg hanging over the side as his eyes followed each and every moment the fighters made. He nodded ever so slightly at the duo attack. “Good… good.”

Disarming her had been an important step. If he hadn’t managed to do that, his chances at beating her Susanoo were drastically reduced. He now just had to employ his multiplicity to continue his offensive while keeping her away from the sword. That’s all. He could win this.

Seteth looked away from where Felix sat, checking over the rest of the blue lions. They were battered and bruised, exhausted, having retreated from a battle less than an hour ago. Thankfully, it was a mutual retreat, so they could hold down and recuperate and prepare for another attack, instead of being hunted by the Empire. He wasn’t sure they could win that battle. He hoped they could just rest, and watch the fight unfold. There was no way they could get close enough to affect the fight in time, unfortunately. But neither could the black eagles. So perhaps it was better this way. Better for the two of them to face each other in the end. Everyone else would simply get chewed up between the titans. They would just have to watch the end unfold.

He felt Flayn drawing closer beside him, and looked down to see wide, anxious eyes. He gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder, before returning his own sights to the battle.

Edelgard screamed as she let loose a hail of punches, crushing the yeti to a mess of ice and snow, before turning to deal with last, climbing back up the mountain from where she had flung it. Seeing the distance it had to cover, she turned back to her blade, aiming to pull it from the remains of the beast she had killed. But remains weren’t there.

She was confused for a moment, until it slammed directly into her pushing her back. She grabbed it from the air, pulling its head down to impact against her knee, before bringing her arms up to ready herself again, seeing the yetis reassemble themselves from the snow and ice.

“So, this is your ploy. Pure attrition. Unwilling to be put down. How… you.”

The beasts charged her, each one not managing to land two hits before they were punched and kicked apart, or thrown off the side of the mountain, just to come scampering back up. She badly needed to extricate herself from the mass and get them all of one side. She also needed her sword back. Maybe she could do both at once.

With complete focus, Edelgard began to move herself through the crowd of seven snow beasts. The first that came at her was ducked under, the second kicked back with enough force to make it momentarily crumble. The third was caught and thrown at the fourth. The fifth was sent flying with a backhanded swing. With that, she pulled her sword from the earth, and took note of her enemies’ locations. Only two were on her left, so that is where she shall go. One came from the right and was kicked back. Another from the left. Edelgard thrust forward with her katana, impaling the beast, then swinging it high overhead until it was flung to her right.

The empress did a full spin, warding off any attacks with the reach her sword allowed her. With them pushed back for a moment, she took off in a sprint to her left, dropping down to slide tackle the remaining yeti. As it fell in the air, she rose to her feet, grabbing and throwing it hard away. The beast tumbled along the plateau, joining its brethren on the other side.

Finally in an advantageous position, Edelgard raised her sword, and let Dimitri and his clones watch as it burst into black flame. This sword would keep them dead. With that, she pulled it close to her face, assuming ko-gasumi. She watched as five more of the horrid beasts clambered up the mountainside, newly formed. Evening the playing field, it seems.

“No more playing around, Dimitri.” She whispered, beginning to inch forth as the snow constructs followed suite. One deep breath. Two. Three. And attack.

Just as the two sides charged, something dropped right between them, landing hard in the snowy battle-torn wasteland, and rolling. They both stopped to observe, but remained on guard, unsure of what trick the other was playing. It wasn’t until the figure straightened up that they recognised him.

“Alright! Okay! Give me a second!” Claude shouted out, still not fully recovered from the landing. “Next time I am so not dropping off a wyvern.” He took a few moments to breathe, before raising his hands to gather their attention; a useless gesture, as their attention was nowhere else.

“So, putting it simply, you’re not allowed to fight anymore!” He yelled, hoping to all the gods that they heard him. He really didn’t want to repeat this. “Match is over, go home, all that stuff. No need to kill each other!”

The thirteen colossal figures simply stared at him, taken aback by his appearance.

“Is that a yes? A no?” He shook his head. “Give me something to work with here, gods.”

There was a pause, before all thirteen looked away from him, and returned their attention entirely to their opponents.

“Alright, you asked for it!”

_Boar, dog, bird, monkey, ram._

There was a great puff of smoke that distracted the fighters once more. They readied themselves even more for whatever horror Claude has unveiled to fight them. Something powerful enough to take out both of them, by Claude’s reckoning, it seemed.

When the smoke cleared, the results of his summoning jutsu became clear.

“I tried my best at diplomacy, but I don’t think even the best will work on them.”

“You didn’t try did you?” Byleth asked, stretching as the thirteen stared at her in shock.

“No point, they’ll listen to nothing but a hard smack across the head. This is war, you know?” Claude shot back, smiling.

“So, I don’t have to try either?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Thank the gods.” Byleth whispered. “Let’s get to it then. I’ll take the susanoo, you go for… whatever the hell Dimitri is right now.”

“Sounds good, Teach!” Claude laughed, as his hands formed the clone jutsu, and over two dozen shadow clones materialised beside him, all walking backwards towards Dimitri as Byleth began to approach Edelgard.

“And remember, no killing.”

“Right back at ya, Ashen Demon.”

Byleth turned back just in time to catch all twenty-something Claudes shoot her a wink. “Just go fight the snowmen.”

“So, Dimitri, how’s it been? Fun fight? Sure hope so.” One Claude called out as he approached, all of them pulling their bows from their backs. “Cause it’s about to end.”

The twelve monsters roared out in anger, shaking the ground.

“Let’s do this.”

The Claudes all leapt high into the air, drawing their bowstrings. He took a deep breath as he poured his chakra into the bow, made specially for him. A blue blip formed on the end of the arrow, before growing in size, under a full rasengan formed, infused with Claude’s wind nature chakra. All at once, a volley of the arrows was fired, raining down on the beasts. The chorus of explosions were music to Claude’s ears.

Some of the monsters were blown apart, and began to reform, as the shadow clones darted across their half of the plateau. The beasts split up to chase them, each one trying their best to crush every one they caught.

Claude himself was trailing along the edge of the plain, watching each of the beasts move and attack, studying them. He watched how they lunged, slammed, and pounced across their battlefield, desperate to destroy their assailants and return to the original fight, and how they fell back, roared, and swung madly in response to rasengan arrows striking them.

After he was fully confident that he knew how they acted and reacted, Claude sprinted directly towards the centre of the battlefield. He trusted his shadow clones to accomplish what fighting they needed but staying out of the battle and hiding just didn’t feel right to him.

Seeing his first opportunity for attack, Claude slid across the ice, between the legs of one great beast swinging its arm in an attempt to catch another Claude. He drew his bow and unleashed a rasengan arrow in a flash, straight into the crotch of the beast. He finished his slide and turned quickly to see it fall to its knees.

“Need an entry!” He yelled out.

“Here it comes!” Came the response, as another leapt from a beast’s shoulders to deliver an arrow directly into the back of the monster.

In the rain of snow that followed, Clause leapt up onto the now open back of the beast and begun to dig away at its frozen flesh. He dug as fast as he could, trying to beat the jutsu’s own regenerative property until he found what he was looking for. Grabbing it tight, Claude yelled as he ripped the Dimitri from the beast, throwing him away as it lost its life, becoming an odd snow sculpture amidst the battle.

The Dimitri roared in fury as he arose, hands quickly coming together.

_Tiger, ox, dragon-_ An arrow tore through his lower abdomen, and the colour disappeared to a pale blue, as the ice clone crumbled.

“One down, eleven to go!” He heard a yell from somewhere in the battlefield.

Claude nodded and began to move onto his next target. Then he was suddenly flying through the air. He landed hard and slid across the ice for several metres, until he finally came to a slow stop. With a pained cough, he saw blood fall onto the ice, dripping from his lip and nose.

“Ow.” He groaned, his head spinning.

But there was no time to suffer. Claude pulled himself to his feet, thankful that his bow was still in his hand, as he observed where next he should attack.

“Two down!” Came a cry, followed an ice-rasengan explosion, as the clone that shouted was turned back to smoke. That was not good.

Pulling his bowstring a few times to test its tautness, Claude heard a monstrous screech from the other side of the mountain. Glancing over, he witnessed the spectacle unfolding between Byleth and Edelgard.

“Didn’t know she could do that…”

Claude charged back into combat once again, launching arrow after arrow at the beasts, watching them blow apart and be forced down, just for one of his clones to come and rip their pilots out, before returning them to the ice.

Unfortunately, the clones fell too. By the time the sixth beast had fallen, their number half, only a quarter of Claude’s clones were left. He was fighting a losing battle. It was time for desperate measures.

He came to this conclusion as he loosed a normal arrow straight down, landing in the exposed lower back of a Dimitri, which returned to ice, just as the others did. He landed softly atop it’s remains.

“This has got to be a statistical anomaly.” He groaned. He looked up to the final five, just as two more clones were reduced to nothing by sharp claws and teeth. “Alright… one in five, good odds.”

He nocked another arrow. “How many clones we got?” A quick look around. “Alright, six.”

_Poof._

“Five… never mind, four. Gods. I’m really going to have to do this, huh?”

“Retreat to me!” Claude roared out. The response was instant, as the remaining four Claudes landed beside him. All at once, they dispersed, the puffs of smoke surrounding Claude as he felt the experience and chakra return to him.

With a deep breath, Claude looked up to the remaining five snowmen.

“Dimitri, mind telling me which one is you?” He shouted out, to a response of roars from each beast. “Thought so.” He muttered.

“Alright then… no time like the present.”

Claude lowered himself to one knee, taking a deep breath. This was his first time trying this outside the mountain. One mistake, one waver from perfection, and that was him done. He needed to do this right. He **would** do this right.

He held completely still, gathering the natural energy and melding it with his own.

The five beasts watched, wary of whatever trick he was playing. Claude was sly, and Dimitri knew this. And Claude knew that he knew this. The simple fact that playing no trick at all was the greatest trick of all almost made Claude smile. But that would kill him, so he refrained from doing so.

He was still there for over fifty seconds, still as stone, ignoring the sounds of furious battle, crashing and roars of monstrous beasts that came from Teach and Edelgard behind him. Near the end the loudest explosion he had ever heard sounded, and its shockwave flew past him, doing it’s best to disrupt his perfect stillness, but still he held strong. Finally done, Claude stood up, his eyes closed.

When he opened them, Dimitri understood what had happened, and his clones roared in unison. Claude’s toad eyes stared at them all, as orange pigmentation formed around his eyes. He had achieved sage mode.

No time to lose.

Claude darted forward at a speed he had never reached before, crossing the distance between them in a moment. He slammed against the chest of a beast, flying into the air and sending a four rasengan arrows straight into it, watching the snow blow apart, followed by the clone within.

A beast screeched and lashed out at him, a blow familiar to him. He pivoted in the air, landing with his legs bent against the arm, and pushed off. He flew through the air, landing hard against the ice, perfectly poised, as the force of his push left the snow-arm in ruins. With a roar, the yeti charged him, the other three moving to position themselves more carefully.

Claude dodged each of the swings, before jumping to eye level with the beast, and spinning with a kick, the impact blowing apart the entire upper region of the chest, revealing the head and shoulders of the ice clone within. Without pause, he nocked an arrow and fired. The rasengan head glowed bright as it impacted, turning the construct and ice clone to naught but debris.

He looked up to the final three, as two of them began to approach him. Without warning, he kicked back, soaring dozens of metres away. He didn’t pause before knocking a new arrow, channelling the senjutsu chakra into a new form of rasengan. He hadn’t tried this one before. By the gods was it heavy.

As the two beasts charged towards him, an ice-rasengan prepared each, he let go, and watched the arrow sail through the air. The two jumped to the side, avoiding the arrow with relative ease. Then the rasengan expanded, instantly cleaving each of the two, and each of the two clones within, in half.

With a single deep breath, Claude looked to the final beast, within which Dimitri lay.

“Ready to end this, old friend?”

The beast let out a horrid screech beyond description, as the snow and ice across the battlefield soared towards it, clumping into it and moulding. Claude watched it get bigger and bigger, until it towered over him like a mountain, easily as tall as Edelgard’s susanoo. It let out an abyssal screech, which caused Claude to stagger, his ears ringing.

The great beast brought forward its hand, and Claude watched as a rasengan appeared, growing bigger and bigger, until it was the size of a building. Claude furrowed his brows as it drew back, before charging forward, crossing the distance quickly due to its size.

He raised his hand, gathering all the remaining senjutsu chakra he had, pouring it all into a single rasengan that formed in his hand. He held it up as it grew bigger and bigger, heavier, and heavier, until his sage mode was the only thing allowing him to hold it up any longer. Almost depleting the last of his reserves, Claude forced it to be smaller and denser, until the massive sphere, five metres in diameter at least, was now only slightly larger than the regular.

This was no time for words, not even from. Holding it beside him, Claude charged forward to meet the colossus, watching as the ice rasengan got closer and closer, less than a tenth of a second until impact. Then he thrust his forward.

“Edelgard, I’m sorry about this. But this is going to hurt.” Byleth swung her sword, letting it extend and flail about as a whip, scoring deep marks in the ice around her. “A lot.”

“Go back into hiding. This doesn’t concern you.” Byleth heard her voice emanate from the ethereal armour.

“Unfortunately, it does.” Byleth mused. “I can’t go back to my little house in the middle of nowhere. Not until after I’ve torn you out off that thing and beaten you into submission.”

Edelgard was taken aback. “That’s an unexpected… attitude from you.”

“I’m very inconvenienced right now.”

“And Claude? Why is he here?”

“He didn’t want to see sit helpless while his friends die. I don’t want to either.”

Edelgard nodded. “I see. Shall we?”

“Might as well.”

With that, Byleth dashed forward, sword arm extended at her side. Edelgard, seeking to end this quick, swung with her flaming sword, the blow scraping along the ground, tearing up the earth and burning everything in its path. Byleth, as athletic as ever, leapt up, avoiding the blade completely as it swung past. With a wave of her arm, her sword extended, the whip lashing out to wrap around the blade, dragging Byleth along through the air.

As the susanoo reach the apex of its swing, Byleth released the whip’s grip, sending her flying upwards, past the armour’s head. Reassembling her blade, Byleth dropped down, stabbing the sword of the creator directly into the susanoo’s face. The chakra infused blade sank slightly in the armour and continued to chip away at it with repeated slashes, slowing wearing down the armour as more chakra was used to sustain it.

Sensing the free hand coming up to grab at her, Byleth swung out with the whip, the many sharp edges slicing at the appendage of the ethereal armour. It was enough to ward the attack away. But this wasn’t going to do. She needed something more effective.

Tossing her sword up and bringing her palms together, Byleth unlocked the seals within her, letting the chakra of the beast within her flow out. Her hair changed hue suddenly, the chakra changing her bodily with its sheer power.

The susanoo’s head suddenly flipped back, sending Byleth up into the air once again. She flipped out of the way of another hand, the whip slashing it apart in a far more effective way than before. As she fell, she stabbed her sword into the torso of the susanoo, watching Edelgard’s concentrated expression as it sliced through the armour, slowing her descent.

Her descent finished just in front of the Empress. She didn’t emote as reached a hand back, forming a half tiger seal. Her then clenched fist burst aflame. Edelgard could recognise flame attack instantly. Even if it was naturally weaker than her blaze release version, the chakra that Byleth could muster would damage the front of her susanoo to a dangerous degree.

Without hesitation, Edelgard slide the blade down her front, the armour thankfully being immune to her own jutsu. Byleth responded by pushing off the armour, flipping back to bring her fist against the hand that sought to grab her. The explosion further weakened the already damaged hand, which retreated at haste.

The black fire sword returned, and this time Byleth brought the solid sword to meet it, screaming out at the heat as the two collided. The chakra of her blade managed to keep amaterasu’s flames at bay, and as the blade swung higher, Byleth slid along its edge, accelerating along until she at last was thrown high up, easily double the height of Edelgard’s great armour.

Good timing, really, considering what she decided to do next. She undid the chakra seal within her.

“Alright, Sothis, time to go.”

She heard a fiendish chuckle in her head before she was suddenly enveloped in darkness. Dull pain spread across her entire body, as she let Sothis’ chakra overcome her, changing her shape as she entered the most powerful form she could assume. Sothis completely resigned all her power to her jinchuriki. “If you don’t mind, don’t get us killed. Please and thank you.”

Sight finally returned to her, as well as full control over her new body. She let out a monstrous screech, wings unfurling to begin to keep her airborne, as she looked down on the susanoo down below her.

Edelgard watched in awe as Byleth transformed fully above her, assuming a form that her sensei had only ever theorised was possible. They it was descending upon her. The divebomb attack crashed into the susanoo, as the dragon’s teeth locked around its throat. Edelgard’s hands quickly came up to pull open the jaws, the flame sword stabbed into the ground.

Throwing away the dragon’s head, Edelgard laid into its body with punches, seeking to dislodge where it had sunk its claws in. Finally managing to dislodge it, Edelgard pushed the beast away.

Byleth moved back and reared her head, seeing Edelgard reach for her sword immediately. The weapon quickly transformed in her hands, becoming a glowing red axe, the top ablaze with her dark inferno. Setting into a low stance, the susanoo began to swing the axe towards Byleth, who mustered the chakra she had into an attack of instinct, it all gathering in her maw.

Just as it came up to meet her, Byleth spat out the tailed beast bomb.

The jutsu fulminated upon the impact, the force sending the axe swinging back, and pushing Byleth away in the air, kept aloft by the beating of her powerful wings. Regaining her bearings, she saw the susanoo lash out with the axe, a single-handed swing from high up on the handle. Relying on Sothis’ instincts once again, she let her tail whip out, cracking against the face of the great red warrior. It stumbled back, before reaching out desperately to grab the dragon. The fingers closed tight around Byleth’s body, trying to crush her in its grasp.

Sensing an opportunity, Byleth Swung her head around, closing her jaws tight around the wrist. Summoning the dragon’s chakra once again, she gathered a tail beast bomb in her mouth. With a closed-jaw screech, Byleth let the bomb explode outwards as a beam, tearing clean through the arm. Its grip loosened, and Byleth watched as it fell through the air, fading away now that it was finally detached from the body.

Roaring at her victory, Byleth was blindsided as Edelgard swung around, letting the axe slide down in her grip until the extended reach and momenta came up to meet her, the fiery axe biting deep into her underside from the one-handed swing. The axe carried her up higher, once again flinging her into the air above.

Managing to regain her balance, and pushing through the pain of her injury, Byleth gathered her chakra and spat out another tailed beast bomb, then another, and another again.

Edelgard planted the axe into the ground, before bringing her free hand up, spitting out blaze release fireballs to counter each of Byleth’s bombs. Explosions filled the sky like fireworks, a show of black, red, and green that could be seen dozens of miles away.

Byleth took a pause to observe the state that Edelgard was in. Her susanoo glowed with far less lustre than before and seemed somewhat smaller, although it had regenerated its lost arm. It was working.; she was breaking down. Edelgard had proved to be far more of a monster than Byleth had ever expected any of her prodigy students to be.

Seeing Byleth’s pause, Edelgard’s left arm snatched up the axe, quickly changing its form to a bow. An arrow materialised in her right, which she quickly nocked. Seeing the empress prepare an attack, Byleth raised her head up, gathering chakra for another beast bomb. Seeing Edelgard begin to charge the arrow, she poured more chakra into her attack. As the arrow began to crackle with lightning, and glow with black flame, Byleth realised this was Edelgard’s all or nothing. Her last bet. She had no choice but to match.

Byleth poured all of Sothis’ chakra that she could into the single attack, the bomb becoming so concentrated that it was a bright beacon in the sky. At last, she saw Edelgard tighten her aim, then release. Byleth responded by spitting out her beast bomb, feeling herself grow weak at the loss of so much chakra.

The two attacks sped towards each other at a speed near light. Byleth braced, expecting an explosion clash. Edelgard stood still, her bow still raised, ready to die if Byleth’s attack won.

The arrow and bomb met and clashed. There was a sound light a crack of thunder right beside one’s ear. Then the arrow hit Byleth.

The tailed beast bomb exploded in mid air from where it had been pierced, and the force of its eruption was quickly overwhelmed as Edelgard’s arrow did its work. The shockwave spread out like a god shattered, forcing to susanoo to its knees. The sound was that of a star breathing its last. The entire land seemed to shake.

Edelgard watched as the light grew bright and brighter, not daring to shut her eyes for even a moment, as they burned under the intense release of energy. She would not look away until she saw the proof of her deed. She wanted to see it. She **needed** to see it.

The light began to fade, and a single human figure fell from the sky, swordless, limp, and lifeless.

Edelgard felt something twist inside her as she reached out a hand, moving it to gently catch her falling sensei. Her own hands shaking, she gently laid Byleth’s body onto the ground, and kneeled down.

She was bruised, beaten and bloody. Dead.

“I’m… I’m so sorry, sensei… I had to. I had to. I… I had to.” She whispered to herself, holding back what she knew was a torrent of tears. “I wish it could have been different. I really wish. But… I have to do this.”

Edelgard looked up from the body, seeing the monstrous, massive form that Dimitri had taken. His concentration had completely left her, single-minded entirely on his foe. His animalistic tenacity. His power and his downfall.

“I won’t let your death be for nothing, sensei. I’ll make it all worth it.”

The susanoo stood, barely glowing at all, and a quart smaller than it had started. Breathing, deep, exhausted breaths, Edelgard drew back an arrow, aiming directly for the monster in front of her as it began to charge, a rasengan in its grip. “Goodbye, Sensei. Goodbye, Dimitri.” She eased her grip on the string.

Edelgard heard the scream before anything else. Pure, raw fury and anger. Something beyond that which even Dimitri could produce. It was harrowing, terrifying, horrible. Then she felt it, in the back of the susanoo. Something pierced through. Then it all happened so fast.

The whip wrapped around Edelgard in an instant, and the next moment she was ripped from the back of her ethereal armour, flying through the air. She was flung in all directions as the whip swirled around, furiously brandished by its wielder, before she was swung down. Her last sight before crashing into the ground was her sensei’s cold dead corpse beneath her.

Edelgard felt bones break in the impact, and her head swam as it cracked against the ground, what little dirt there was beneath the long since melted snow doing little to protect her. She forced herself to consciousness as she felt herself slip, only to see smoke around her.

No.

No.

No.

With a scream of pain, Edelgard forced herself to a crawling position, and felt the whip loosen around her, before falling away completely. She followed it, trailing the length of the whip until she found its user. There, standing only a few metres away, was Byleth, with the scariest expression she had ever seen another human wear in all her years. Wild, crazed eyes were beneath a mop of messy, dirty, and bloody hair, and her face was completely still, her hair being the only proof that she breathed, as it swayed back and forth.

“Stay. Down.”

“Was that… a fucking dragon?” Linhardt asked, staring in shock along with all the other black eagles at the mountain.

“Her susanoo… it’s gone…” Hubert whispered. A tear dripped down his face.

“Is Dimitri alive?” Flayn yelled, gripping tight to Seteth’s cloak.

“I have no idea.” Felix responded, leaning forward in his branch.

Claude lay on his hands and knees in the clouds of dust. He could barely breath through his exhaustion. His head swam, desperately trying to shut down, to get some god-forsaken rest. But he couldn’t. Not until he was sure. Sure of what? He couldn’t really decide. That Dimitri wasn’t going to come and stab him as he lay unconscious? That Dimitri had even survived? With a pained grunt, he lifted himself from the ground, swaying on his feet as he began to move through the mist.

Edelgard watched her blood drip onto the ground below her face. From her mouth, her nose, several cuts across her face. She hacked, coughing up even more. She… she couldn’t lose. It couldn’t all be for nothing. With a scream, Edelgard pushed herself up. She stood unsteady on her feet, bringing her gaze to Byleth. Using whatever remained of her chakra, she activated the sharingan.

Dimitri stumbled through the clouds of dust, his pained, tired body on the brink of collapse. On the brink of death, almost. But he didn’t know if she was dead yet. So, he would not die. Not yet. Not until then. He reached into the tattered remains of his cloak, and with a pained gasp from touching his chest, he found nothing. He had used his weapons in the battle before all this, he had planned to rely upon only his jutsu. Bending over, he groaned, and picked up a rock. It would do for the job.

The sword retracted, and Byleth watched her student rise. Her pupil looked to be in worse shape than her. She may have been a bit too rough with the whip, she thought. She was just… so angry. So furious. She heard a faint whisper inside her. “It’s not over, Byleth.” The sensei nodded. To Edelgard, it would only be over in death, either hers or her sensei’s. She saw the sharingan activate.

Claude finally caught sight of something moving in the dust. “D-Dimitri…” He tried to call out, his voice barely above a whisper. But the shape in the cloud heard it, as it began to slowly move towards him. “Dimitri! You’re alive…” He croaked. The tall figure stumbled forward, and Claude saw something clutched in his hand. This was not good.

Edelgard gasp as her left eye flashed, and black flames manifested weakly where the professor stood for a few seconds, before fading away. She grunted, then began to walk forward, gaining slightly more strength in her stride. Just as she reached Byleth, she threw a punch. Byleth gasped as the fist collided with her jaw, followed by another one on the other side. She looked up to see another, sending her swaying to the side, blood dripping from her mouth.

Dimitri approached Claude with heavy breaths, lunging forward to grab him. Claude barely managed to avoid the grab, leaning away only to be hit by the following thrust of the rock against his face. He fell back, the side of his face scraped up, and his cheekbone surely fractured. He looked back to Dimitri just as the larger man fell upon him, raising the rock high to finish the job.

Byleth hung leaning to the side a moment before the fire ignited in her once again. Grabbing her sword by the handle, and midway along the blade, ignoring how it bit deep into her palm, Byleth swung the hilt hard towards Edelgard, catching her across the mouth. She pulled back, before driving the pommel hard into her face. Edelgard fell back.

Claude, realising this was the end for him if he didn’t act, reached forward, grabbing Dimitri by his lapels, before pulling him down, swinging his head as hard as he could into Dimitri’s nose. There was a crack, then another, as Claude headbutted him again. And again. Eventually Dimitri fell back, crawling away to try and stand up.

Edelgard tried to rise again, on her hands and knees, ready to fight once more. This wasn’t going to end now. Not now. It could not. She had to win. She would win. Or she would fucking die. The last thing she saw was Byleth’s foot, swinging towards her. Then she was unconscious.

Dimitri began to rise once again, and was met by Claude, swinging his now recovered metal bow. He wasn’t conscious to feel the aftermath of the hit.

Byleth stood above the incapacitated Edelgard, sword held at her side. “I think that’s it over, huh?”

Sothis appeared beside her. “I’d say so.”

“I’m glad. I’ve had enough war for a lifetime.”

There was a gut-wrenching scream from the dust cloud covering the other side of the mountain, the side effect of Claude’s battle with Dimitri. Byleth felt her heart stop at the pained sound, as she began to half walk, half stumble her way towards the source.

“Claude?” She called out, holding her blade so tight her knuckles whitened.

“Teach?” She heard his voice in the dust, and moved towards him, until they caught sight of each other.

They stopped, staring at the battle worn forms of each other.

“Wow.” Claude stated after a moment. “You look like relative shit.”

“Relative?”

“Relative to yourself. You still look way better than I do.” He chuckled with a wink, before growing quiet.

They stared a little longer, before quickly stepping forwards. They embraced each other tight, each trying to pull the other as close as possible, to get as much comfort as they possible could. They both began to shake, and tears fell down their faces, mixing with the blood, sweat and dirt.

“I wanna go home, Teach.” Claude whispered, choking up.

“Me too, Claude.” She whispered back, her eyes wide.

“I wanna go live with you for a while, in the wilderness, away from… everything, please.”

“You can live with me, it’s okay.”

She felt him nod against her shoulder.

They stayed there for a few more minutes, just holding each other, trying not to collapse from their own exhaustion, until finally Byleth broke away. She cupped his chin to make eye contact.

“Come on, we have to finish this, sort it all out.”

“Yeah, we should. You’re right.” He took a deep breath in.

“Then it’s all over?”

“Yeah… finally.”

“Finally.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NARUTOOOOOOOOOOOOOO  
> SASUKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE  
> CLAUDEEEEEEEEEEEEE
> 
> TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK I DID THIS ENTIRE FIC IN ONE DAY


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